Delhi High Court Dismisses Plea Seeking Transfer Of Case Of Tablighi Jamaat Leader To NIA, Grants Liberty To Approach Supreme Court

The Division Bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh hearing the petition, however, granted the advocate for the petitioner liberty to press the petition seeking similar relief instituted by him before the Supreme Court.

Petitioner Ghanshyam Upadhyay had sought the invocation of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and entrusting of investigation to National Investigating Agency for "the crime of organizing huge congregation by Tablighi Jamaat with delegates from foreign countries and its members/participants," and thereafter "knowingly spreading" the novel Covid-19 virus across the country.

The petition stated that the effects of the crime spanned across India, therefore an investigating agency with powers to probe swiftly across the country should handle the case. The plea also quoted media reports to show that Saad had connections with the terror group Al-Qaeda.

Earlier the Delhi Police had opposed the petition stating that they were already onto the investigation in the case and there was no need to transfer it to any other agency. The Crime Branch of the Delhi Police has till date charge-sheeted hundreds of foreign nationals under provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946, Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, Disaster Management Act, 2005, and Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Earlier, an FIR was also registered against the Chief of Tablighi Jamaat and others in connection with the congregation held at Markaz Tablighi Jamaat in the Nizamuddin area of the national capital, which had reportedly become an epicentre for the spread of coronavirus.

Contesting this claim of the Delhi police, the petition which was filed in May 2020, claimed that it was a matter of record that the local police i.e. Delhi Crime Branch, was "found to have miserably failed in tracing out/apprehending/arresting Maulana Saad, despite (the) lapse of considerable time and his photograph being published in electronic media."

The petition also refers to a report by India Today which allegedly reveals terror links of Tablighi Jamaat followers and terror attacks in Europe, Central Asia and Pakistan.